Natural classification of fungi

Question 1

Asexual stages of fungi

Answer 1

Anamorph

Question 2

Sexual stages of fungi

Answer 2

Teleomorph

Question 3

a primitive group of microscopic fungi; lack chitin in cell walls during feeding stage – forms
during reproductive stage; live as parasites inside minute aquatic organisms such as diatoms and water molds

Answer 3

Cryptomycota

Question 4

obligate intracellular spore-forming parasites; used to be classified as protozoa

Answer 4

Microsporidia

Question 5

oogamous phylum of fungi

Answer 5

Monoblepharidomycota

Question 6

also known as mitospores, multiply by simply splitting into two. This is a fast and efficient way to increase the population

Answer 6

Asexual Spores

Question 7

These spores form at the tip or side of a hypha, a thread-like structure in fungi. Blastomyces dermatitidis, a fungus causing the lung disease blastomycosis, reproduces by producing ________

Answer 7

Conidia

Question 8

are simply the cells of a hypha that have been cut off from each other. Fungi like Trichophyton rubrum, which is responsible for athlete’s foot and ringworm, produce these kind of spores

Answer 8

Arthrospores

Question 9

These are thick-walled spores that help the fungus survive under very extreme conditions. Candida albicans, which causes thrush, produces ______

Answer 9

Chlamydospores

Question 10

These spores are formed within a sac-like structure called a sporangium. Rhizopus stolonifer, commonly known as bread mold, undergoes reproduction through _______

Answer 10

Sporangiospores

Question 11

________ or meiospores, on the other hand, are formed by the fusion of two parent cells. This process contributes to the genetic diversity in the fungal population

Answer 11

Sexual Spores

Question 12

Formed in sacs called asci, each ascus usually contains eight ________. These are produced by Ascomycetes

Answer 12

Ascospores

Question 13

These spores are formed on a pedestal-like structure called a basidium. Each basidium produces four ______

Answer 13

Basidiospores

Question 14

This is a result of fusion of cells from two different
fungal strains.

Answer 14

Zygospores

Question 15

occur in aquatic environments such as streams, ponds, estuaries and marine systems, living as parasites of algae and planktonic organisms.

Answer 15

Chytrids

Question 16

The only fungi with flagella

Answer 16

Chytrids

Question 17

________ chytrids are those that consist of a sporangium and filamentous rhizoids

Answer 17

Eucarpic

Question 18

_______ chytrids that produce thalli that are entirely converted to sporangia during reproduction

Answer 18

Holocarpic

Question 19

thallus produces a single sporangium

Answer 19

Monocentric chytrids

Question 20

several sporangia form on a network of rhizoids termed a rhizomycelium

Answer 20

Polycentric

Question 21

monocentric, eucarpic, the largest
genus in the Chytridiales

Answer 21

Rhizophydium

Question 22

Chytrids exist as obligately anaerobic symbionts in the intestines of herbivorous mammals now placed in phylum ________

Answer 22

Neocallimastigomycota

Question 23

are saprotrophs as well as parasites of fungi, algae, plants and invertebrates, and may be facultatively anaerobic in oxygen-depleted environments.

Answer 23

BLASTOCLADIOMYCOTA

Question 24

______ is anisogamous; female gametes are colorless and sluggish, male gametes are orange (they contain α-carotene) and very active, swimming in arcs interspersed with a jerky, tumbling, movement.

Answer 24

Allomyces

Question 25

stimulates the influx of calcium ions (Ca2+) into the sperm cytoplasm and the physiological response is to reduce the length of the arc in the swimming of the male gametes

Answer 25

Sirenin

Question 26

Besides sirenin, the sperm cells of Allomyces macrogynus produce a female attractant, called _________

Answer 26

parisin

Question 27

comprises the subphyla Entomophthoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina and Zoopagomycotina;

Answer 27

Zoopagomycota

Question 28

constitutes the earliest diverging lineage of zygomycetes and contains species that are primarily parasites and pathogens of small animals (e.g. amoeba, insects, etc.) and other fungi, that is, mycoparasites).

Answer 28

Zoopagomycota

Question 29

comprises subphyla Glomeromycotina (Mortierellomycotina, and Mucoromycotina and is a sister phylum to the Dikarya (Ascomycota and Basidiomycota).

Answer 29

Mucoromycota

Question 30

It is the more derived clade of zygomycetes and mainly consists of mycorrhizal fungi, root endophytes, and decomposers of plant material.

Answer 30

Mucoromycota

Question 31

the earliest diverging clade of zygomycetous fungi.

Answer 31

Zoopagomycota

Question 32

produced by some of the animal pathogens and mycoparasites.

Answer 32

Haustoria

Question 33

Asexual reproduction is by ____________ from branched or unbranched conidiophores; primary conidia are forcibly discharged, and secondary conidia are either forcibly or passively released

Answer 33

conidiogenesis

Question 34

Sexual reproduction involves the formation of either zygospores by _________ __________, involving hyphal compartments or hyphal bodies.

Answer 34

gametangial copulation

Question 35

includes three classes and three orders of saprobic and insect pathogenic fungi.

Answer 35

ENTOMOPHTHOROMYCOTINA

Question 36

species may be saprobes, mycoparasites, and symbionts of insects; the latter includes Harpellales that are typically found within the hindguts of aquatic life history stages.

Answer 36

KICKXELLOMYCOTINA

Question 37

include mycoparasites and predators or parasites of small invertebrates and amoebae.

Answer 37

ZOOPAGOMYCOTINA

Question 38

shares a most recent common ancestor with Dikarya and is characterized by plant symbionts, decomposers of plant debris, plant pathogens and only rare ecological interactions with animals (primarily opportunistic infections).

Answer 38

Mucoromycota

Question 39

contains Archaeosporales, Diversisporales, Glomerales, and Paraglomerales

Answer 39

GLOMEROMYCOTINA

Question 40

known as prolific producers of fatty acids, especially arachidonic acid and they frequently harbor bacterial endosymbionts.

Answer 40

Mortierella

Question 41

This subphylum features the largest number of described species of Mucoromycota and includes the well-known model species Mucor mucedo and Phycomyces blakesleeanus. It also includes industrially important species of Rhizopus and other genera.

Answer 41

MUCOROMYCOTINA

Question 42

a typical filamentous mould that occurs as a saprotroph in soil, and on decaying fruits and vegetables. It is found everywhere in nature.

Answer 42

Mucor

Question 43

characterized by very fast growing and coarse hyphae and colonies spread by means of creeping aerial hyphae known as stolons that branch into pigmented root-like rhizoids when they contact the substratum

Answer 43

Rhizopus

Question 44

another filamentous fungus in the order Mucorales.

Answer 44

Phycomyces blakesleeanus

Question 45

produces numerous tall sporangiophores that are very sensitive to light.

Answer 45

Phycomyces

Question 46

usually considered to be a member of the Entomophthorales. It is isolated from the dung of amphibians, reptiles, and insectivorous bats, as well as wood lice, plant debris and soil.

Answer 46

Basidiobolus

Question 47

commonly found in soil and plant material, particularly in Mediterranean and subtropical zones.

Answer 47

Cunninghamella

Question 48

the only known human and animal pathogen, another opportunistic fungus that may cause infections in immunocompromised hosts.

Answer 48

C. bertholletiae (Cunninghamella berthholletiae)

Question 49

are also common soil fungi and the genus contains over 70 recognized species, however, M. wolfii is probably the only (again, opportunistic) pathogen of man and other animals in this genus.

Answer 49

Mortierella

Question 50

The fungus grows inside the body of the insect. The mycelium of the fungus grows into the region of the fly’s brain that controls behaviour, inducing the fly to land on a nearby surface and crawl up as high as possible.

Answer 50

Entomophthora

Question 51

the largest group in Kingdom Fungi. Filamentous fungi that produce a mycelium in which the hyphae are regularly septate

Answer 51

ASCOMYCOTA

Question 52

Sexual spores (ascospores) are formed within a sac-like structure hyphal cell which is called an ______

Answer 52

Ascus

Question 53

also known, informally, as the archiascomycetes

Answer 53

Taphrinomycotina

Question 54

also known, informally, as the hemiascomycetes

Answer 54

Saccharomycotina

Question 55

also known, informally, as the euascomycetes

Answer 55

Pezizomycotina

Question 56

The four main ascoma morphologies are:

Answer 56

Apothecia, Perithecia, Cleistothecia, Ascostromata

Question 57

typically disk- to cup-shaped to spoon-shaped (spathulate) and produce their asci in a well-defined tissue layer, a hymenium, which is exposed to the air.

Answer 57

Apothecia

Question 58

partially closed stomata

Answer 58

Perithecia

Question 59

completely closed stomata

Answer 59

Cleistothecia

Question 60

the asci develop in preformed spaces, called locules and the stroma often forms a flask- shaped (pseudothecia) or open, cup-shaped (hysterothecia and thyriothecia) structure that resembles the gross morphology of perithecia or apothecia.

Answer 60

Ascostromata

Question 61

The descriptive names for the major ascus types include:

Answer 61

prototunicate, operculate, inoperculate, bitunicate

Question 62

produced by apothecial, cleistothecial and perithecial fungi; thin-walled, globose to broadly club-shaped, ascospores released passively by disintegration of the ascus wall.

Answer 62

prototunicate

Question 63

found in apothecial fungi; release ascospores through a defined opening with a ‘lid’ (operculum) that is formed either at the ascus apex or just below it.

Answer 63

operculate

Question 64

produced by apothecial, cleistothecial and perithecial fungi; typically thin-walled, the tip of the ascus usually has a small pore filled with loose wall material; the spores are discharged through this pore, or if there is no pore, dehiscence by rupture of the ascus apex.

Answer 64

inoperculate

Question 65

conspicuously thick-walled with two walls, called the exotunica and endotunica; produced by ascostromatic lichenised and nonlichenised species and ascohymenial lichens

Answer 65

bitunicate

Question 66

its members share the feature that their sexual spores are exospores, formed on a basidium (and are therefore called basidiospores).

Answer 66

BASIDIOMYCOTA

Question 67

includes the plant pathogens that cause smut and rust diseases, ectomycorrhizal species which are of key significance to forest ecosystems, saprotrophic species that can decay the lignin (‘white-rot fungi’) as well the cellulose of plant litter, and the most noticeable and frequently encountered mushroom fungi.

Answer 67

BASIDIOMYCOTA

Question 68

Species are based on morphological similarity, but most biologists and mycologists in particular, believe that the morphological species concept is the least satisfactory. It is practical for identification, but it obscures the phylogenetic origins of many features.

Answer 68

The morphological species concept

Question 69

Species is defined as an interbreeding population that is somehow reproductively isolated from other populations. This cannot be applied to all fungi because within the group there are many that do not reproduce sexually. Overall, there are too many severe restrictions on application of the biological species concept widely in fungi for it to be a universal definition

Answer 69

The biological species concept

Question 70

Differentiates species by their ecological niche and the constraints on their evolution that determine their maintenance and reproduction in that niche. The niche may be a particular species of host plant, or even a specific cultivar of a host species. Application is severely limited in practice. Can be ideal for pathogens butt there is a vast range of other fungi for which this approach simply fails. It is another concept that cannot offer the universal definition

Answer 70

Ecological and physiological species concepts

Question 71

Envisages a species as being a monophyletic group of organisms sharing molecular characters that derive from a common ancestor. The concept does not have any obvious built-in exclusions or limitations. The analysis can be applied to asexual organisms; anamorphic and teleomorphic stages can be covered by a single species concept. No shortage of characters – fungal genomes are big enough to provide more than enough sequences for this to be a definition of universal applicability.

Answer 71

Evolutionary/phylogenetic species concept

Question 72

This is an informal grouping that includes the most ancient fungi and fungus-like organisms

Answer 72

Water moulds

Question 73

The organisms known as ______________ are now all placed in Kingdom Protozoa. They do not form hyphae, and they generally lack cell walls, being capable of ingesting food particles by phagocytosis.

Answer 73

Slime moulds

Question 74

wood becomes markedly paler as the organism digests the (colored) phenolics in lignin. This mainly affects hardwoods and in a ____________, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin are degraded more or less simultaneously.

Answer 74

White rot

Question 75

wood becomes darker brown as the digestion proceeds. In this case hemicellulose and cellulose are preferentially removed, because the fungus does not degrade the lignin. This particularly affects softwoods.

Answer 75

Brown rot

Question 76

a symbiotic interaction between fungi and plant roots that developed very early in the process of colonisation of the terrestrial environment.

Answer 76

Mycorrhiza